Life is pretty fantastic for us so far. Ethan is growing and developing in every way that he should. He is an absolute joy, and we are loving life as his parents. God is so good!
Fast forwarding to his 9 month well child appointment - we saw one of the physicians at our pedi's office, as the PA we usually see was out on vacation. She said that even though his foot did appear to be getting better, if it was her son she would take him back up to Chapel Hill for a second look. They made us an appointment, and off we trekked again.
This time, we were much less nervous. We'd been told so often about the packing-problem-it-will-go-away, that we didn't think much about it. The appointment wasn't at a perfect time for his nap, but we'd hoped he would fall asleep in the car on the 1 hour drive. No such luck, but fortunately he was still in good spirits in spite of the missed nap. He's a pretty happy baby in general. Our PA came in to examine our son's foot, flanked by (I suppose) a few students. He stretched both feet to check the range of motion in Ethan's feet and hips, but he seemed a little concerned with the stiffness he discovered in Ethan's right foot. He said that this was different from the last visit, so he thought an x-ray was appropriate. By this point in time, Ethan was getting a little fussy (an hour and a half after he should have been down for his morning nap), but he handled the x-ray remarkably well. A few minutes later, the PA came and told us he was going to have us see the pediatric orthopedist Dr. H. As quickly as we were bundled into x-ray, we were shifted into yet another room, where a few minutes later the doctor strode in.
I have to say, I didn't process a lot of what he said. I think both my husband and myself were feeling a little shell shocked. He talked about different foot problems and how one particular foot problem - congenital vertical talus - matched up with what was going on with Ethan's foot. He talked about the two versions, oblique versus vertical talus; what we would see when we googled the terms and the more common term "rockerbottom" foot. He talked about casting, and surgery, mentioning that oblique talus didn't always require surgery. We were then bundled over to casting, where we met the casting tech. Meanwhile, Ethan is 2 and a half hours past nap time and 30 minutes past lunch. Needless to say, the casting didn't go very easily. Fortunately, my little trouper was so exhausted that he fell asleep mid-casting.
We left the office with a zonked little boy in a cast, and a little fuzzy as to what had just happened. As we talked in the car on the way home, we decided that Dr. H had meant that Ethan had the milder version - oblique talus - and thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we googled the term on our iPhones on the way home. We didn't come up with a whole lot, but we focused on Dr. H's mention that oblique talus didn't always require surgery. We didn't know much of anything about the plan - if they had talked about what was coming next, it didn't register with us. We were hoping for a few weeks in a cast, maybe followed by a brace. Our next appointment wasn't for almost 2 weeks, since we were leaving for vacation in Florida for most of the next week. Yay - a week at the beach with a baby in a cast. Doesn't that sound like fun to you?
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